@moonbus saidYou're going to believe this:
You're not going to believe this :
https://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe
just read it anyway.
I read it through, twice. Just to be sure. I was aware of Washington's teeth. I didn't know the author of the pledge of allegiance was a Christian socialist. No shock.
I was a little surprised though that the most famous myth about George Washington wasn't mentioned.
"The cherry tree myth has endured for more than two hundred years probably because we like the story, which has become an important part of Americans' cultural heritage. It has been featured in comic strips and cartoons, especially political cartoons. Americans like to use the myth as a standard for politicians; presidents from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt to Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have been featured in cherry-tree themed cartoons. The longevity of the cherry tree myth is demonstrative of both American ideals and Washington’s legacy."
Jay Richardson
George Mason University
But the main thrust or purpose of the "Oatmeal's illustrated narrative, imo, was the "backfire effect" created in the brain to counteract information that challenges firmly held beliefs, even when those beliefs are based on myths.
I learned a long time ago that virtually everything man thinks he knows is based in myth, propaganda, hearsay, rumors and just plain false information. 7.9 billion people each has a twist on reality. Try tracing it back as far as recorded history goes and find the real truth of it all! Everyone has an opinion. Few know the truth.
Believe this, I've been around a while. I'm "born again", not born yesterday. No one knows it all.
I cannot be moved. I am firmly rooted in the Rock of my salvation. It is a myth, or outright lie, that there is information that can unsettle my resolve. There is nothing in existence that can cause a "backfire effect" in my brain.
You won't believe that.
Why is that? It's because you believe that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a myth. When you learn the truth, the backfire effect will be more than a mere shock.
God loves you. It's not a myth.
P.S. I hesitate to post this because it goes against the grain of the firmly held beliefs of so many, and because it's just one more installment in a debate that has been raging since the beginning of time. It won't end till the return of Jesus Christ. When that happens the debate will be over.
Romans 8:22,23
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
P.P.S. No offense intended.
3 edits
While I like some of the ideas and principles attributed to him by the writers of the NT hagiography, I don't think in terms of how "attractive" he is based on the way he is portrayed.
Okay, you like, but you don't use the word "attractive".
Okay, you like, but you won't definitely believe that Jesus really did said these
likable things attributed to Him (fictitiously I assume mean).
Thankyou.
But you like more so what atributes and principles ?
But you like more so attributes and principles attributed to _____________ ?
Who?
Or What?
1 edit
Romans 8:22,23
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
When this is described as part of deification, why do you find alarm with that ?
You can transfer your answer over to the Questions to Deification Deniers
thread if you prefer.
I don't mean to be a pest. But the "manifestation of the sons of God" I would say is the culmination of the deification process. This is theosis. This is divinization.
You might say "No indeed it is NOT because _________________________" ?
3 edits
I wouldn't have. Such a conversation topic would be preposterous. If I'd had the chance to talk to Tutu, the topics would have probably been organizing resistance to tyranny and the whole process of peace and reconciliation. If Tutu was inspired and empowered to do the things he did by his belief in - and "attraction" to - Jesus Christ, that'd be fine. But it wouldn't be the topic of our conversation.
Do you see ANY at all correspondence between the concept of Truth and Reconcilation with coming to New Testament coming to God in confession, trust, repentance, to receive forgiveness and be reconciled to God?
I am not asking you do you believe God exists.
I am only asking if you see any glim parallel between the Truth and Reconcilation
matter develooped by Desmond Tutu and New Testament confession for
Justification and Reconciliation to God ?
In both cases the concept of not hiding, not covering, but admission (either private or open) to a willing authority to be forgiven and be reconciled to.
Do you see some parallels ?
2 edits
@sonship said"No indeed it is NOT because, I do not see the terms "deification" or "divinization" inferred in the language of the text anywhere in the Bible".
@josephw
Romans 8:22,23
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
When this is described as part of deification, why do ...[text shortened]... . [/i]
You might say "No indeed it is NOT because _________________________" ?
apokalypsis - translated "revelation" 12 times, "be revealed" twice, "to lighten" once, "manifestation" once, "coming" once and "appearing" once.
I find no scriptural evidence to support the concept of "deification" of believers anywhere in the scriptures.
I keep telling everyone around here that the scriptures say what they mean and mean what they say.
Show me some references that SAY believers are deified. Otherwise it just sounds like a soup of conjectural assumptions to me. Sorry! 😔
Like the science behind evolution! Not sorry. 😬
@pianoman1 saidI think your OP is flawed because it assumes God’s existence is dependent upon man’s perceived need for him.
May I politely bring the discussion back to my original OP. What is the point of God today? FMF has provided some interesting answers, but other posters have largely gone off on their own tangents.
Once your kids have moved out of the house and no longer need you, do you cease to exist?
@pianoman1 saidI would like to politely reply. No sarcasm.
May I politely bring the discussion back to my original OP. What is the point of God today? FMF has provided some interesting answers, but other posters have largely gone off on their own tangents.
"What is the point of God now?"
I think somewhere in this thread I answered, "the same as it's always been". Or something like that.
There can only be one succinct answer really. God is both creator and sustainer of life. Without God life wouldn't exist. That, if true, is immutable. I can't think of any simpler way of describing something that simple of a concept.
If God exists, then the above must be true. If God doesn't exist, then life has no meaning beyond our immediate circumstances.
I think that would answer the question, what's the point of God now? In the immediate sense. In the broader sense, it raises more questions. For example: how does one fit God in a box? Etc. etc. ad infinitum.
@sonship saidNo, I don't But I can see how a Christian might like to see it that way.
I am only asking if you see any glim parallel between the Truth and Reconcilation matter develooped by Desmond Tutu and New Testament confession for Justification and Reconciliation to God ?
@sonship saidThe only "parallel" would be in the mind of someone who believed that there were some sort of divine authority that was dispensing forgiveness.
In both cases the concept of not hiding, not covering, but admission (either private or open) to a willing authority to be forgiven and be reconciled to.
Do you see some parallels ?
If believing that there was such a parallel became an influence on one or more parties' desire to reconcile with each other and if seeing the issue through that theist prism facilitated it, then it would definitely be relevant
@sonship saidI will leave the matter of how "attractive" Jesus' "attributes" are - based on the way he has been portrayed by the people who wrote the hagiography decades after his execution - to you.
Okay, you like, but you don't use the word "attractive".
Okay, you like, but you won't definitely believe that Jesus really did said these
likable things attributed to Him (fictitiously I assume mean).
Thankyou.
But you like more so what atributes and principles ?
But you like more so attributes and principles attributed to _____________ ?
Who?
Or What?